In this piece, I will share the offensive lists as well as some observations. Even though I major on the minors for a living, when stepping back to look at the big picture, I discovered surprises along the way and I bet you will, too.

The ground rules

The main overarching decision I needed to make was where to draw the line in terms of minimum at-bats for the rate stats, including batting average, on-base percentage, slugging and OPS. I wanted to not exclude deserving short-season players, but still keep the data meaningful.

I ended up selecting 150 at-bats. For each of the categories shown below, I also made a decision where to stop the listing of names this article. I will call them out along the way.

As you will see in the pitching counterpart article yet to come, I dipped all the way down to 30 innings for the hurlers.

BA and OPS

We will start with two of the most-commonly referenced stats, batting average and on-base plus slugging percentage.

The system had an even 10 hitters who finished the season with a .300 batting average or better. It was interesting from a bookend-view with four Gulf Coast League hitters and three Triple-A ones.

In all fairness, it is difficult to fairly evaluate two proven college hitters, yet undrafted free agent signings in Michael Pritchard and Derek Gibson. One could argue the two should succeed against teenaged pitching.

Most of the names on the slugging list were expected, though it bears repeating that Magneuris Sierra and Malik Collymore of the GCL are two of the players on all four rate stats tables. The others are Pham and Gibson.

A few interesting names appear at the end of the SLG table in second baseman Jacob Wilson of Springfield and State College first baseman Alex Deleon.

Name

Tm

AB

OBP

Name

Tm

AB

SLG

Magneuris Sierra

GCL

202

0.434

Rowan Wick

SC-Peo

260

0.608

Casey Turgeon

JC

221

0.428

Magneuris Sierra

GCL

202

0.505

Michael Pritchard

GCL

182

0.409

Oscar Taveras

Mem

239

0.502

Malik Collymore

GCL

177

0.403

Xavier Scruggs

Mem

472

0.494

Derek Gibson

GCL-PB

151

0.403

Randal Grichuk

Mem

436

0.493

Nick Thompson

SC

227

0.396

Tommy Pham

Mem

346

0.491

Tommy Pham

Mem

346

0.395

Malik Collymore

GCL

177

0.480

Jermaine Curtis

Mem

225

0.386

Derek Gibson

GCL-PB

151

0.477

Rowan Wick

SC-Peo

260

0.383

Ed Easley

Mem

277

0.473

Casey Grayson

JC

225

0.382

Jacob Wilson

Spr

252

0.460

Shane Robinson

Mem

191

0.380

Alex De Leon

SC

239

0.460

Home runs and RBI

For the common run production lists, I ended up with top nine names by drawing the lines at 12 home runs or 55 RBI.

Scruggs and Randal Grichuk at the top were expected, as was Wick. Though the latter’s production was in just 260 at-bats, Mason Katz’ totals were close to Wick’s as the other 20-home run hitter in the system.

There is no doubt Patrick Wisdom had a forgettable season at Springfield, yet his 14 long balls were still seventh-most in the organization. Though Stephen Piscotty had a relatively-quiet season for Memphis, his fourth-highest RBI count is worth noticing.

A couple of very interesting names appear at the end of the RBI list. I am guilty of narrowly labeling Breyvic Valera as a .300 hitter only, but that is not fair. Only seven others drove in more runs than the outfielder/second baseman. Notice how often Valera appears on other lists, too.

The other is Juan Herrera, who adds considerable speed and plays a premium defensive position, shortstop.

Name

Tm

AB

HR

Name

Tm

AB

RBI

Randal Grichuk

Mem

436

25

Xavier Scruggs

Mem

472

87

Xavier Scruggs

Mem

472

21

Randal Grichuk

Mem

436

71

Rowan Wick

SC-Peo

260

20

Mason Katz

Peo-PB

413

71

Mason Katz

Peo-PB

413

20

Stephen Piscotty

Mem

500

69

David Washington

PB

327

16

Rowan Wick

SC-Peo

260

60

Scott Moore

Mem

416

15

Nick Martini

PB-Spr

454

60

Patrick Wisdom

Spr

452

14

Scott Moore

Mem

416

58

Cody Stanley

Spr

385

12

Breyvic Valera

PB-Spr

521

57

Bruce Caldwell

Peo-PB

369

12

Juan Herrera

Peo-PB

410

56

Doubles and triples

I am not sure why 11 seems to be such a common number, but that is exactly the quantity of organizational players with 20 or more doubles and with five or more triples during the 2014 season.

One often looks to doubles leaders for young players who may be able to lengthen those hits to home runs later.

On this list, Piscotty, Wilson and Herrera are back and worthy of note, as is another interesting name in Ronald Castillo. The outfielder hit 25 doubles while continuing to tease us as to what he could accomplish if he could just remain healthy for a whole season. Is Castillo becoming the new Tommy Pham?

A well-known prospect in Charlie Tilson was tied at the top of the three-base hits list by an emerging outfielder in Peoria’s Vaughn Bryan. Palm Beach’s Bruce Caldwell is an under-the-radar guy with interesting talents, also having launched a dozen long balls to go with seven triples.

Name

Tm

AB

2B

Name

Tm

AB

3B

Stephen Piscotty

Mem

500

32

Vaughn Bryan

Peo

317

9

Xavier Scruggs

Mem

472

29

Charlie Tilson

PB-Spr

509

9

Nick Martini

PB-Spr

454

26

Malik Collymore

GCL

177

8

Ronald Castillo

Peo

353

25

Bruce Caldwell

PB

369

7

Jacob Wilson

Spr

252

25

Breyvic Valera

PB-Spr

521

6

Randal Grichuk

Mem

436

23

Tommy Pham

Mem

346

6

Pete Kozma

Mem

379

23

Richy Pedroza

Peo

254

6

Scott Moore

Mem

416

22

Nick Martini

PB-Spr

454

5

Juan Herrera

Peo-PB

410

22

Luke Voit

PB

351

5

Luke Voit

PB

351

21

Mike ONeill

Spr-Mem

417

5

Anthony Garcia

PB

343

20

Edmundo Sosa

GCL-SC

212

5

Runs and stolen bases

To place on one of these lists, a player must have scored at least 60 runs or swiped at least 15 bags this season.

A new name on the run-scoring and base-stealing leaderboards is C.J. McElroy. The outfielder did his job at the top of the lineup in his return year at Peoria.

Two young players with high steals and especially good success rates are both middle infielders – Johnson City’s Oscar Mercado and State College’s Darren Seferina. Though not reflected in the table below, Mercado added six more stolen bases in the Appalachian League playoffs.

Like many of the less-experienced players mentioned, Mercado and Seferina are among the players currently working in instructional league camp in Florida.

Name

Tm

AB

R

Name

Tm

AB

SB

CS

Xavier Scruggs

Mem

472

82

C.J. McElroy

Peo

490

41

18

C.J. McElroy

Peo

490

74

Juan Herrera

Peo-PB

410

28

13

Charlie Tilson

PB-Spr

509

73

Oscar Mercado

JC

243

26

7

Randal Grichuk

Mem

436

73

Tommy Pham

Mem

346

20

2

Stephen Piscotty

Mem

500

70

Rafael Ortega

Spr-Mem

382

19

10

Breyvic Valera

PB-Spr

521

66

Darren Seferina

SC

194

19

5

Tommy Pham

Mem

346

63

Robelys Reyes

Peo-SC

272

18

10

Greg Garcia

Spr-Mem

397

62

Breyvic Valera

PB-Spr

521

17

15

Nick Martini

PB-Spr

454

61

Carlos Talavera

DSL

233

15

4

Rafael Ortega

Spr-Mem

382

61

Greg Miclat

PB-Spr-Mem

236

15

3

Mike ONeill

Spr-Mem

417

60

Coming up

I have started to prepare a similar analysis for organizational pitchers, but may have to do some splitting of data between relievers and starters to put together a better picture.